Evener for two-horse vehicles



(No Model.)

J. HOOK, Jr.

EVBNEB FOR TWO HORSE VEHICLES. No. 571,134. Patented Nov. 10, 1896.

@ifu w M M w 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES HOOK, JR., OF MANILLA, IOIVA.

EVENER FOR TWO-HORSE VEHICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 571,134, dated November10, 1896.

Application filed March 26, 1896. Serial No. 584,989. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JAMES HOOK, Jr., a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Manilla, in the county of Crawford and Stateof Iowa, have invented a new and useful Evener for Two-Horse Vehicles,of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide improved means for attachinghorses to a vehicle in order that the draft of the horses may becushioned relative to the vehicle and that in a descent the whiffietreeswill be drawn rearwardly away from the legs of the horses and the tracesretained taut.

My invention consists in the combination of a whifiletree mounted toslide and oscillate on a vehicle-tongue, an evener mounted on saidtongue and yielding pressure devices connecting said evener andwhiffletrees, whereby the whiffletrees are normally held in proximity tothe vehicle.

My invention consists, further, in the construction, arrangement, andcombination of elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims,and illustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is aplan showing a tongue, axle, and my devices mounted thereon. Fig. 2 is asectional elevation longitudinally of the tongue.

In the construction of the device as shown the numeral 10 designates avehicle-tongue attached at its rear end to an axle 11. A clip 12 ismounted above the tongue and fixed thereto by bolts 13 14, a space beingleft between the clip and tongue for the admission of the whiffletrees,as hereinafter described. The rear end of the clip 12 is fixed to theaxle 11 by a bolt 15. The whiffletrees comprise an evener-bar 16 andsingletrees 17 18, pivoted in a common manner to the ends of saidevenerbar. A bridle 19, made of a metal strap, is mounted on and extendsforward from the front edge of the evener-bar l6 and surrounds the bolt13 when the evener-bar is mounted between the clip 12 and tongue 10,thereby providing a slot within which the bolt 13 passes. A notch 20 isformed in the forward edge of the evener-bar 16 and is designed forengagement with the bolt 13 when the evener- 22 23, which springs extendforward from the evener and connect by means of hooks on their forwardends to eyebolts 24 25 in the evener-bar 16.

In practical use the team is attached to the whifiietrees by traceshooked to the singletrees in a common manner, and when draft is appliedthereto the whiflietrees are drawn forward along the tongue against theresilience of the springs 22 23, according to the amount of draftapplied. WVhen the draft is relaxed, as occurs when the vehicledescends, the springs 22 23 contract and draw the whiliietrees backrelative to the vehicle sufficiently to maintain the traces taut, thuspreventing said traces from becoming slack and accidentally detachingfrom the singletrees. The bridle 19 guides the whiffietrees inforward-and-backward movement along the tongue and prevents the endwisedisplacement of the evenerbar from the clip 12. The notch 20 in theforward end of the evener acts to center the evener-bar on the, bolt 13and prevent unequal leverage thereof. The bolt 14 acts to limit thereciprocation of the whiffietrees. The evener acts in conjunction withthe springs and whiffletrees to uniformly and regularly reposition thesame after an oscillation thereof.

I claim as my invention 1. An evener, comprising an evener-bar iountedto slide and oscillate on a tongue, singletrees carried by the ends ofsaid evenerbar, an evener mounted adjacent to said evener-bar andyielding pressure devices connecting said evener and evener-bar, as setforth.

2. An evener comprising an evener-bar carrying singletrees and providedwith a bridle whereby the bar is mounted for reciprocation andoscillation on a vehicle-tongue, an evener, and springs connecting saidevener and evener-bar.

3. In a device of the class described, the

combination ofavehiole-tongue, aclip mountnecting the ends of saidevener with the ed on said tongue, bolts traversing said clip evener-barand singletrees carried on the and tongue, an evener-bar mounted betweenends ofsztid eVener-bm, as set forth.

said clip and tongue and between the bolts, a JAMES HOOK, J R.

bridle on said evener-bar inolosing' the for- Vitnesses: Ward bolts, anevener mounted in the rear M. J. MONERTNEY, of the evener-bar,i'etraotile coil-springs con- G. D. BROKAVV.

